Snuffing out smoking in family films: Changes in movie industry

Monday

Faced with Congressional pressure to curb smoking on film, Walt Disney Co. announced plans to prohibit puffing in family-oriented movies.

Mickey is giving up his Marlboros.

Faced with Congressional pressure to curb smoking on film, Walt Disney Co. last week announced plans to prohibit puffing in family-oriented movies, and is urging other Disney-owned film units, including Touchstone Pictures and Miramax, to do the same.

Among anti-smoking advocates in MetroWest and Milford, the commitment was welcomed.

"It's very important," said John Fromson, chairman of the Psychiatry Department at MetroWest Medical Center. "Repeatedly, the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention has identified tobacco in the movies as a major factor with respect to adolescent and teenage smoking."

Though factors like having parents and friends who smoke also influence whether teens will start smoking, research has shown a powerful link between smoking on film and teen smoking.

Fromson said studies show teens whose favorite stars smoke on screen are between 15 and 16 times more likely to have positive attitudes about smoking.

Another study found as many as half of all teens who smoke were influenced by positive images in movies to start.

"I think it's a courageous, bold and very impressive first step," Fromson said of Disney's decision. "I think it will help. I think it's a great thing."

As part of their new anti-smoking stance, the company will also include anti-smoking ads on DVDs of films which include smoking, and are asking theater owners to run anti-smoking ads in theaters.

The self-imposed smoking ban, of course, won't come without some benefits for Disney.

"When you think of kids you think of Disney," said Russet Breslau, a spokesperson for Tobacco Free Massachusetts, a coalition of anti-smoking groups led by the American Cancer Society.

"From a parenting perspective and a professional perspective, it really helps with the brand of the Disney name," Fromson agreed.

"I think it's terrific," Breslau said. "It's certainly ahead of the curve in terms of what's going on with the rest of the studios."

Though he supports the idea, Milford Health Officer Paul Mazzuchelli wondered if a limit on smoking in cinema could lead to other restrictions on film.

"There are other things besides smoking that are dangerous," he said. "How far are we going to go? If we see a heavy person eating a lot are we going to put an anti-obesity message on that as well?"

"From a public health standpoint, yeah, I think actors in movies are really looked upon with high esteem by teenagers," he said. "(If) they see someone doing it, they're going to do it."

"It's about time," said Natick Director of Public Health Roger Wade. "I think movies have been a big problem.

"A lot of the beautiful people that are in these movies that kids sort of look up to and want to be like, it seems like in every movie they have to smoke. It's been talked about in the field as a real problem.

"It's almost like wallpaper," Wade added. "It's taken for granted that successful, well-off people, they smoke. I think (the decision) it's a great start."

Peter Reuell of The MetroWest Daily News (Framingham, Mass.) can be reached at 508-626-4428, or at preuell@cnc.com.

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